California · Nvidia · China · Donald Trump · U.S. · CNBC Technology
Hidden beneath AI chips, Chinese-made circuit boards raise national security concerns in U.S.
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Printed circuit boards sit underneath almost every chip, a necessity in nearly every electronic.
Key facts
- The global PCB industry is projected to grow 12.5% this year, reaching nearly $96 billion, and expanding to $123 billion by the end of the decade, according to electronics research firm Prismark
- Globally, TTM used as much power as 70,000 homes, and 2.1 billion gallons of water in 2024
- Circuit boards can be made up of anywhere from one to 140 layers and can range in price from the single digits up to $100,000, according to TTM
- Some 30% of the world's supply of printed circuit boards, or PCBs, used to come from the U.S. That number has dropped to 4%, according to the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, or PCBAA
Summary
Circuit boards present all sorts of opportunities for adversaries to sneak through malicious components. "Chips, substrates, PCBs represent multiple avenues of attack for a potential malicious actor," said Mike Cadenazzi, U.S. assistant secretary of war for industrial base policy, . Some 30% of the world's supply of printed circuit boards, or PCBs, used to come from the U.S. That number has dropped to 4%, according to the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, or PCBAA. Former U.S. deputy under secretary of defense Al Shaffer, who helped make technology acquisition decisions in the Obama administration and in President Donald Trump's first term, says PCBs are the "easiest place to disrupt an electronics chain" because of the ability to hide things in substrates and layers.